Physics 559 



ments, a remarkable example of which is to be seen in the 

 work of Professor Boys himself in his classical determination 

 of the constant of gravitation. 



By no means the least important publications of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution have been the series of memoirs, eulogies, 

 biographies, and autobiographies of distinguished scientific 

 men which have been printed in the Smithsonian Reports 

 from the earlier to the later issues. Great interest attaches 

 to the personality and private life and character of men of 

 distinction, and this is no less true in science than elsewhere. 

 Besides, these memoirs and eulogies often furnish the most 

 complete and concise account of the scientific work of their 

 subjects, and furnish information of this kind not elsewhere 

 available. The Smithsonian Reports have put into the hands 

 of physicists biographical memoirs of such men as Priestley, 

 Delambre, Faraday, Eaton Hodgkinson» Thomas Young, 

 Herschel, Laplace, De la Rive, \ olta, and Kirchhoff, among 

 others, and four of these came from Arago, whose own auto- 

 biography, entitled "The History of My Youth," published 

 in the Report for 1870, is one of the most charming sketches 

 to be found in any language. The memoir of Kirchhoff, by 

 Von Helmholtz, is full of interest to every physicist, and the 

 " Historical Sketch of Henry's Relation to the Telegraph," 

 by Doctor W. B. Taylor, published in the Report for 1879, is 

 a document of great scientific value. 



Another interesting and valuable feature of the Smithsonian 

 Reports is the publication from time to time of reports on 

 the transactions of various European societies, especially the 

 Society of Physics and Natural History of Geneva, abstracts 

 of whose transactions were published annually for nearly a 

 quarter of a century. 



The publication of prize problems and of medals and 

 prizes offered by various scientific societies, including the In- 



